the economy front and center right now with president biden about to roll out some potential financial life lines as janet yellen his pick for the treasury secretary is expected to clear the first hurdle to become the first woman in that post. this hour we're also expecting a final senate vote this morning to confirm retired four-star general lloyd austin as defense secretary, making him the first black person to serve in that role. president biden's cabinet slowly

coming together and part of it has to do with chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell who have yet to reach a power sharing agreement in this evenly split senate. we will explain why that is slowing things down. plus ahead, our new reporting that mcconnell wants to delay the former president's second impeachment trial, pushing for a start by mid-february. the majority leader chuck schumer might talk about all of this and more when he speaks on the senate floor any minute. we will bring that to you live when it happens. plus, the u.s. capitol police under fire again after thousands of national guardsmen had to leave the capitol and post up in a parking garage nearby. this morning the cap police say they didn't have anything to do with it so how did this happen in the first place? we will ask senator dick durbin a member of the democratic leadership team about that and the day's other big stories, there are plenty of them, as we kick off this friday morning in washington. i'm hallie jackson along with our nbc team kelly o'donnell and peter alexander covering the

white house, we're also joined by dominic chu. peter, let me start with you and some executive actions from president biden with an economic backdrop to all of this. unemployment rate at 6.7%, 10 million people out of work, 14 million people behind on rent, 30 million adults and 8 million kids dealing with food insecurity. talk to us about what we're expecting to here from president biden today. >> reporter: hallie, you detail well the dire circumstances that the president and this country finds itself in at this time. new polling showing that roughly 14% of adults didn't get enough food in just the last week and that's why on the economic issue they are today going to be signing a pair of executive orders that address nutrition assistant, food assistance among other things. they will talk about the benefits for children and american families who relied on free food coming from schools, raising benefits for those families so they can deal with those challenges as well.

federal contractors and workers, improving the minimum wage, making sure it's $15 for all of them, that's a process, they're going to kick start that process today but it's not the only one over the course of this day, there's also worker safety issues, some that would allow workers presently getting unemployment benefits basically to say that they can say no to a job, still receive those benefits if they don't believe that that job would keep them safe from the coronavirus right now. fundamentally one of the challenges here is there's only so much you can do by executive order as opposed to congressional action. here is part of what press secretary jen psaki said on that issue earlier today. >> there's going to be a discussion with members of congress of both parties about where we go from here. they'll like some pieces, they won't like some pieces, we will figure out what the sausage looks like when it comes out of the machine, but at the end of the day he felt it was important to lay out his bold vision for not just covid and addressing it but also immigration. >> reporter: so there's immigration but when they speak to the bold vision on covid

that's a reference to the $179 trillion massive covid relief project. obviously a lot of money tied up in the potential success or failure of that. the white house recognizes the urgency there and as the rest of the team will detail out there's already concern not just among republicans but even among some democrats about that. >> peter alexander, teeing us up well for garrett haake over on the hill. garrett, you heard peter lay out the congressional piece of this as we also potentially i think sometime in the next week e listening to him. talk through the expectations today moving personally if chuck schumer interrupts. we're going to see more of the confirmation of biden's nominees today. with he should have a defense of secretary before lunch today and we could have a secretary of tress ri or secretary of state before the end of the day. it's not that the biden confirmation process is going so slow, it's that it started so late. the trump transition was awkward and messy, the runoffs in

georgia delayed control of the senate so we are in a position where the senate is only really now starting to get to work on these nominations when in both the obama and george w. bush administrations they had many more nominees, half a dozen or so in place by the president's first day. one of the things we might hear from schumer on the floor is whether there's been an agreement with mitch mcconnell about organizing the senate. this feels boilerplate and procedural, but it is important in a 50/50 senate. they have to set things like who controls committees, how ties would work, things like that. and that process while technical and kind of dry is important to just the basic functioning of the senate and once that hurdle is cleared i think we could see things move much more quickly here in the coming weeks. >> you know, i think it's fair, garrett. it may sound dry when we talk about procedural organizing resolutions but it's the reason why there has been, correct me if i'm wrong, a fairly slow moving process to try to get president biden's cabinet in place. >> reporter: that's exactly

right, that combined with the georgia runoff elections. we didn't even know who was going to be in the majority until two weeks ago. so it's just a slow process. the senate isn't exactly fast moving institution even in the best of times and these between riots, attacks, runoffs, transition, are not exactly the best of times for getting work done in the senate. >> that is a fair point. garrett, i know you're going to stay close to that camera for when we do hear from senator schumer. dom, let me go over to you, you know everything about the economy and we're glad to have your perspective here. you look at the executive actions being signed today by president biden, on top of that $2 trillion stimulus package he's proposing. i know you talked to experts in the financial field. what do they say about these proposals and the impact they could have on the economy? >> so, hallie, the general consensus right now among many of the economists and the market experts that we speak to is that there's some form of additional aid from congress is absolutely necessary to make sure that things don't actually get worse

for the u.s. economy. you just heard peter lay out some of those grim stats we had on how many people are still unploimd, how many people are on assistance, those stats show you how much work is left to be done in getting americans back to work, back to some semblance of financial health. a lot of the tools being laid out by that biden administration in the form of those executive actions they're seen as quick fix ors band-aids of sorts by many experts we talk to. a lot of them believe if you don't keep things stable and support the economy at this stage if another recession were to happen the effects could be a lot worse and leave bigger scars. another key of course, hallie, will be on getting those people who are the most out of work, especially in industries like hospitality and leisure, those people back to work on a more consistent basis, that's going to be key. >> that is going to be key. dom chu, thank you much. we've been telling you about chuck schumer speaking. he has been talking about that national guard issue. we want to see if he address that is power sharing agreement or the potential for an

impeachment trial to begin. let's listen in. >> -- and i want to thank all the members who were concerned and lent a hand. i also want to particularly thank acting sergeant-at-arms jennifer hemingway who when we told her about this situation patrolled the floors of the capitol complex until past 3:00 a.m. to ensure that no one was left behind or not where they belonged and she was back at her desk first thing today to follow up. we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the men and women who work to keep us safe on january 6 and the days since, a situation like last night will never happen again. now, i've spoken about the senate's agenda for the next several weeks. we have three essential items on our plate, one, the confirmation of president biden's cabinet and other key officials. two, legislation to provide desperately needed covid relief.

three, a second impeachment trial of donald trump. the senate must and will do all three. covid relief, confirmation of nominees and impeachment trial. now, the first order of business is to fulfill our constitutional duty to advise and consent on the president's appointments to his cabinet. this morning the senate will vote to confirm president biden's nominee for secretary of defense, lloyd austin. mr. austin will be the first african-american to ever helm the defense department in its history. a powerful symbol of the diversity and history of america's armed forces. mr. austin has a storied career in the army, but those days are behind him. as secretary of defense he promised to empower and lift up his civilian staff and i believe he will be an outstanding

secretary of defense for everyone at the pentagon. service members and civilian employees alike. the secretary of defense of course has a hugely important task ahead of him. he must once again demonstrate to the world that the u.s. military will always support our friends, deter our adversaries and if necessary defeat them. lloyd austin is the right person for the job. he has the experience, the vision and the competence to run the largest agency in our government. i look forward to confirming his nomination shortly. afterwards the senate must continue to install president biden's team by confirming secretaries of state, homeland security and treasury. we need republican cooperation to confirm these nominees, but we expect that cooperation to continue. the continuity of our national security, military and intelligence policy as well as

our ability to effectively respond to the current health and economic crises depend on having these cabinet officials confirmed. now, as i mentioned, the senate will also conduct a second impeachment trial for donald trump. i've been speaking to the republican leader about the timing and duration of the trial, but make no mistake, a trial will be held in the united states senate and there will be a vote on whether to convict the president. i have spoken to speaker pelosi who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the senate on monday. now, i've heard some of my republican colleagues argue that this trial would be unconstitutional because donald trump is no longer in office. an argument that has been roundly repudiated, debunked, by hundreds of constitutional scholars, left, right and center, and defies basic common sense. it makes no sense whatsoever

that a president or any official could commit a heinous crime against our country and then be permitted to resign so as to avoid accountability and a vote to dis bar them from future office. makes no sense. regardless, the purveyors of this unusual argument are trying to delay the inevitable. the fact is the house will deliver the article of impeachment to the senate, the senate will conduct a trial of the impeachment of donald trump. it will be a full trial. it will be a fair trial. but make no mistake, there will be a trial and when that trial ends senators will have to decide if they believe donald john trump incited the election -- insurrection against the united states. now over the course of elections in november and january the american people chose to retire

four republican senators and elect a democratic majority to this senate. the senate must now take the basic step of passing an organizing resolution and setting up the rules for a senate where there are 50 members of either party. luckily, we have a clear precedent for what to do in this situation. in 2001 then majority leader lott and minority leader daschle came together and agreed on a set of rules to govern a 50/50 senate. we should follow that precedent. we have offered to abide by the same agreement the last time there was a 50/50 senate. what's fair is fair. that is precedent. we could organize the senate today if both sides agreed to abide by the same rules as last time. the republican leader, however, has made an extraneous demand that would place additional

constraints on the majority, constraints that have never been in place before. in fact, his proposal would remove a tool that the republican leader himself used twice in just the last congress to accelerate the confirmation of republican nominees. leader mcconnell's proposal is unacceptable and it won't be accepted. and the republican leader knew that when he first proposed it. only two days ago, mr. president, we celebrated the inauguration of a new president and the turning over of a new leaf. the american people want us to work together and move past the meaningless political fights and gridlock that have plagued us for too long. it's time to get to work. the first step is for the republican caucus to agree to follow the same precedent that governed the senate last time around. i yield the floor.

>> you have been listening, of course, to senate majority leader chuck schumer making news this hour on the senate floor up at the u.s. capitol saying that per his conversation with house speaker nancy pelosi that article of impeachment for former president trump will be transmitted to the senate on monday. looks like senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is about to speak. garrett, article to be transmitted on monday, i believe the constitution says that trial should start the next day, tuesday. do we know if that will happen or are there things that could occur to push that trial start a date back? >> reporter: the rules say that the trial should start the very next day but get ready to hear this a lot, we are in unchartered territory of an impeachment trial of a former president. in the senate anything can happen with consent of all 100 members and what you may see here is consent to say, okay, we have now received the article,

we're going to give ourselves a little bit of time here. the mcconnell plan that he had offered senator schumer which we all just saw schumer reject had a week or so built in to make sure that the managers and the president's case were ready. that could still happen but based on a start day of monday as opposed to the start date of the 28th which is what mcconnell offered. that's a long way of saying it probably won't start tuesday even though that's what the rules say but we will see what they're able to hash out. >> it's possible, garrett, and i know you will be reporting this out, that we might hear more from republicans as senator mcconnell is speaking. again, our team is listening in on that, so far no news. we will dip in the second that that happens. jake sherman, let me go to you, garrett referenced the other news that chuck schumer made talk being that power sharing agreement. put it in english, jake. translate congress-ese into regular people's terms so we can all understand it. what does this mean moving forward? >> garrett put it right.

chuck schumer -- mitch mcconnell is asking chuck schumer to do something that he will never do which is to guarantee that he won't abolish the filibuster. the entire democratic party is asking chuck schumer to eliminate the filibuster and mitch mcconnell is asking him to guarantee he won't do so. so that's just not going to happen. he is not going to agree to that. again, garrett is right, we are in completely unfamiliar territory here. we have no idea how this is going to end because neither side wants to blink. they could end up on some handshake agreement, that's the most likely scenario. >> and let's dip back in now because, actually, jake, senator mcconnell is talk being that now. let's listen. >> -- on many occasions. our current democratic colleagues used this liberally, liberally over the last several years when they were in the minority. more than two dozen signed a bipartisan letter in 2017 saying our republican majority should not break the rule by brute force.

let me say that again. two dozen democrats signed a bipartisan letter in 2017 saying our republican majority should not break this rule by brute force. i agreed. i didn't do it. president trump was not happy with that. he tweeted against me numerous times because i didn't do -- put an end to the legislative filibuster. so the democrats used it constantly as they had every right to. they were happy to insist on a 60 vote threshold for practically every measure or bill i took up. so we will continue to request in that our democratic colleagues reaffirm this standing rule of the senate which they have been happy to use on many occasions i can attest. if we're going to truly replicate the 2001 agreement we need to reaffirm this crucial

part of the foundation that lay beneath it. yesterday i also shared a proposal for the pretrial steps in the senate impeachment process that appears to be headed our way and as i understand it must be heading our way monday. by senate rules if the article arrives we have to start a trial right then. this impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal process over in the house. the sequel cannot be an insufficient process that denies former president donald trump his due process or damages the senate or the presidency itself. senate republicans strongly believe we need a full and fair process where the former president can mount a defense and the senate can properly consider the factual, legal and constitutional questions at stake. for that reason we suggest the house transmit this article next

thursday, but that's apparently going to be next monday. that former president trump's answer and the house pretrial brief i suggested be due on february 4th and that former president's pretrial brief be due i suggested on answer 11th. that timeline would have provided the senate some more floor time before we step up fully into the unknown of a trial, which, by the way, would have been a substantial benefit to the incoming administration and allowed them to get more of their cabinet confirmed, which we are cooperating as best we can to expedite. so finally, mr. president, on one final matter regarding those nominees, we are considering president biden's nominees for key cabinet posts on wednesday, avril haines was confirmed as director of national intelligence on a big bipartisan vote including my own.

we hope to be able to consider tony blinken to be the secretary of state early next week. today we're considering general lloyd austin, president bush -- biden's nominee to serve as secretary of defense. i voted to approve the waiver that would allow him to serve in this post yesterday notwithstanding the seven year cooling off period after military service. and i will be voting in favor of his confirmation. i'm voting yes because the nominee is clearly qualified and because presidents should get real latitude to fill their terms with qualified mainstream people of their choosing. at the same time the senate should pause and reflect on the fact that we will have begun two consecutive presidential administrations by issuing a waiver to a four-star general and former centcom commander to lead the pentagon. the armed services committee held a hearing last week to examine the waiver and the current state of civil military relations at the pentagon.

i expect the committee will continue to pay close attention to this important issue in the months ahead. and we will investigate steps that congress can take to help restore balance over at the pentagon. the law that we keep waiving actually exists for a good reason, civilian control of the military is a fundamental principle of our republic. we emphatically do not want high ranking military service to become a prerequisite for civilian leadership posts over at the department of defense. it's not just about a simplistic fear that the military will end up running itself, to the contrary, many experts worry that military leaders appropriate fixation on being nonpolitical may not prepare them for the job to forcefully fight for armed services amid the political rough and rumble in the executive branch and here in congress. put another way, they are taught from the beginning to stay out

of secretary of defense who is willing to engage in the is discussions that we have related to the department. so nevertheless i will vote today to confirm a clear -- >> you have been listening to senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, of course, the republican leader in the senate, saying he will vote to confirm general austin who is up of course to become the first black defense secretary potentially in this country. mcconnell making news there as we heard on the heels of chuck schumer just a moment ago. to talk about that i want to bring in the number two democrat in the senate under leader schumer, majority whip dick durbin. thank you for being on the show. good morning. >> thanks, hallie. >> so let me rip up all the questions i was going to ask you and let me get to you react to some of what we've heard now. senator schumer saying nancy pelosi plans to send the article of impeachment to the senate on monday. does that mean the trial will

start on tuesday? >> there will be an impeachment trial but i don't think a final decision has been made as to when it will start. hallie, we have our hands full, president biden needs his team, particularly his national security team, a few of them are making it across the finish line in the senate, we're going to try to move as many as quickly as possible so that the nation's security will never be at risk in the process of transition. secondly, we have a covid relief plan. you know, president biden has made that his highest priority to move on this pandemic. we have people across america who don't have access to vaccinations and they should. so we've got to make certain that that is in place quickly. there will be an impeachment trial, the exact scheduling of that has not been decided. it will be soon. >> you talk about the other priorities in place. pull back the curtain for us a bit, then. it sounds like, senator, you may be open, then, to perhaps some kind of a consent agreement to delay the start of the senate trial a little bit. am i reading you correctly on that? >> as i said, that has not been

decided as i sit here. we just received notice, chuck schumer said it on the floor of the senate, we're going to receive the impeachment articles on monday, there will be a timely response to them and there will be a trial for sure, but we are going to at least at this moment sit back and decide exactly the timing of it so that we can give the new president his team and to give the american people the relief that they desperately need. >> the other piece of this, of course, is that power sharing agreement that so far is no the in place. we heard from senator schumer and senator mcconnell -- excuse me, leader schumer and senator mcconnell on that. can you talk a bit about how you see this moving forward? it doesn't sound like folks are much closer to a deal here. >> well, i can tell you that when you get into this conversation about senate rules and fill busters and cloture votes and the history of the senate most eyes glaze over across america. the american people have a bottom line question, can you

get anything done in the senate? with a 50/50 senate can you agree on anything? the answer is yes if there's bipartisanship. this notion we're going to require 60 votes on everything and find all kinds of means of delay, 30 hours at a time, is frustrating to members of the senate and i think to the american people. there is a growing feeling bipartisan feeling in the senate, some 16 senators and i'm happy to be part of that group, eight democrats, eight republicans who are saying let's do it a new way. the old way was too slow and noo them on a bipartisan basis and f the senate judiciary committee. who is going to be on my committee? who is going to be on the other on domestic terrorism the reports in morning papers from the fbi about what was preplanned before this

insurrectionist mob hit the capitol on january 6th are alarming and should be to all americans. we need to move on that and do it now. >> there is still this impasse, right? you have made very clear, senator, that you are not interested in picking up sort of what mitch mcconnell is putting down as it relates to the filibuster. mitch mcconnell is making clear he's not willing to budge, either. if another side bujs how do you get through this impasse here? what realistically can happen so that people can, as you pointed out, watch the senate to do some work. >> it slows down our work if we don't reach an agreement. i think we will ultimately, but this notion that we are going to protect the filibuster really just basically is an invitation to senator mcconnell to keep using it over and over and over again. i hope i made it clear to you there is a growing bipartisan sentiment in the senate that people are tired of this. they want the senate to come to work. take a look at this economy,

there are so many things we need to do to get businesses back open and our kids back in school. you know, why aren't we making that a priority instead of this endless debate over the filibuster. >> i know you have three minutes before you have to get to that vote on general austin. on the timeline for the power sharing agreement and the potential of when this impeachment trial will start, do you expect to be in discussions today, this weekend? when will we know how this process specifically on impeachment will move forward? >> i think it's going to become clear next week. we just as i mentioned will be receiving the articles from the house on monday and we have to look at the calendar and how quickly we can move the key members of the biden national security team and cabinet forward. so we're going to sit down and map this out as best we can, use every available minute to respond. people expect us to share the president's sense of urgency on

dealing with the problems of our nation. >> this morning the national guard troops received accolades from chuck schumer, from you after this issue overnight where they were moved out to a parking garage, had to sleep there. there was an uproar from lawmakers. the capitol police now say they are not the ones who sent national guard troops out of the capitol. what happened here? what in the world happened and should there be some consequence as soon as. >> of course there should be consequences at least the person responsible for it should own up. this was a dumb decision. these men and women are sacrificing and coming to washington to keep us safe. they deserve not only respect but the best treatment. anybody who thinks it's a good idea to have the national guard sleep in a parking garage i want to invite them, tell them if they don't change their way they're going to be sleeping with the cars themselves. >> before i let you go a group of senate democrats have now filed an ethics complaint against republican senators ted cruz and josh hawley calling for an investigation after their actions of course in the moments preceding the january 6 siege.

you called that i saw this morning the right venue, this ethics investigation, but is there a reason, senator, that you did not also sign on to that? >> i'm going to be, i hope soon, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, many of those members are members of the committee. i decided to hold back on my signature but i certainly support the effort. the ethics committee should go forward with this critically important question. and i would say to one of the senators from missouri, senator hawley, take your hold off of the department of homeland security if you haven't already. we need that agency to be filled with leadership, mr. mayorkas as quickly as possible. this notion of delaying it indefinitely is a mistake. >> senator dick durbin, i know you have to run to the floor. thank you so much for your time this morning, especially as we're living in this developing news from your neck of the woods at the capitol. thank you. let me bring back in jake vermin and kelly o'donnell who are with me. jake, some news we have heard

from the top three leaders on this show this morning. your reaction about where this goes. you heard senator durbin not commit to a timeline for this trial which i thought was particularly interesting. >> yeah, i was texting sources about that comment as well. so what he seems to be signaling, hallie, is that there's some sort of middle ground gro under that they don't have to start the trial immediately. i'm not en tiring sure how that would work, i would assume that would have to be a consent agreement means all republicans and democrats agree there should be some period during which the president can prepare his trial. but a few thoughts. senator durbin said that they want to confirm the top level of biden's cabinet. they will be able to do that. they will get lloyd austin through today, janet yellen and tony blinken are coming down the pike. it's not so far off. this confirms what we already know that this trial is going to begin next week, the president will have to submit his preef, the house gets to respond and then we have a trial of some sort of length, of some sort of

time and that is where we are and it's going to be largely in the month of february but starts on monday. >> kelly o'donnell, let me go to you because we're getting new reporting in about who particularly -- who exactly is going to be defending former president trump in this impeachment trial. >> reporter: and it is not the cast of characters we got to know so well during the trump years. a new name regarding trump but known well in the community of south carolina and if south carolina rings a bell, think lindsey graham. president trump former president trump still getting used to that former president trump's ally in the senate recommended butch bowers who has been a prominent lawyer in south carolina, has his ability to practice in the district of columbia as well, has represented senior elected officials in south carolina, in north carolina, has a robust practice that people in both

parties say he has been a straight shooter, well respected and he will now represent perhaps president trump and go bl a team beyond that but he will be at the center of this. it's critically important that a president or former president get a chance to assemble a defense, something that has been notably difficult for donald trump because a number of the lawyers who represented him in impeachment one did not want to be a part of it now and he no longer has a white house counsel and office of attorneys to assist him so he is private citizen trump needing a defense. so how they will prepare that and how robustly they fight this single article of impeachment is something we will be tracking as well. so the schadlow of donald trump is not gone, he may be living in florida, he may be on the greens at his private golf club, but he will remain a figure in washington casting a shadow over this new congress and this new biden presidency and certainly trying to find the timing to make that business happen in addition to turning the page is

a real challenge for washington of this moment. hallie? >> kelly o'donnell live for us outside the white house, jake sherman live inside the capitol building, thank you both for your reporting. as we talk about all of these moves happening at the capitol we have more developments out of the senate. janet yellen the president's pick for treasury secretary has made it out of the committee, that committee vote has passed so she is now one step closer to getting confirmed. and right now senators are starting that vote as we let senator durbin go from the show to take that vote to confirm joe biden's nominee for the defense secretary, general lloyd austin. we are watching that vote. it may potentially wrap up as you look live at the senate floor before this broadcast ends. we will bring you developments there. we will also talk about president biden signing that executive order with new mask and covid testing mandates for people, travelers, coming in and out of the u.s. we're taking you live to london heathrow with how that is planning to roll out next. plus, stunning new data just out showing black americans being vaccinated at a

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this morning new steps are going into effect here in this country and at airports overseas as president joe biden takes on the covid pandemic with a significant new shift not just in the federal response but but in in how the commander in chief talks to all of us about these losses and this enemy. >> 400,000 americans have died. that's more than have died in all of world war ii. 400,000. and this is a wartime undertaking. >> dr. anthony fauci now saying the lack of candor as he put it during the last administration very likely cost lives. with the wartime response president biden is talking about

taking shape with these new orders to increase supplies and testing, improve vaccination access and equity, promote masking and require it in airports and interstate buses and for travelers to the u.s. negative tests and quarantine orders are about to go into effect. our reporters have it covered home and abroad. we have priscilla thompson in philadelphia with a new effort to respond to what is an emerging effort in vaccination rates. molly hunter is at heat row airport. >> pennsylvania as the state with the biggest reported divide in vaccination rates between white and black people who live there. what's being done to try to fix that? >> reporter: yeah, well, hallie, when we look at this data the 16 states that track this by race and all of those states african-americans are being vaccinated at a lower rate than white residents and here in pennsylvania that is about four times white residents are being vaccinated four times the amount of black residents and so the

black doctors covid-19 consortium has stepped in to help close that gap and i want to give you a look at the operation here. they have around half a dozen stations that are set up here vaccinating folks and, you know, two of the issues that the kaiser health analysis raised this idea of lack of access to the vaccine in these communities and a mistrust in the health care systems and that is what they're working to address here. so folks are able to make those appointments online, but they're also -- the consortium went out and dropped off paper applications at black churches. they also set up a phone line for folks who don't have access to the internet or aren't as tech savvy to make those appointments. the other thing you will see is a majority of the patients are black and a majority of the practitioners that are speaking to them and administering these vaccines are also black and dr. stanford who runs this operation says that that makes a big difference. take a listen to what she told me.

>> there's a shared experience, there's a shared struggle, there is more patience, there is an understanding of their social environment and all of that contributes to better health outcomes. >> reporter: and of course the issue that they face here much like what we're seeing across the country is access to more doses. right now they get around 500 doses per clinic here but the doctor tells me that already they have more than 16,000 residents signed up hoping to get a vaccine at one of these locations. hallie? >> priscilla, thank you. molly, let me go to you at heathrow airport in london where that negative test requirement for people coming into the u.s. has been in effect for several weeks but now the president's executive order means everybody flying here from around the world will have to test negative before flying, quarantine after they get there. how has the testing requirement been working so far where you are? >> reporter: hey, hallie, that's right. so it is working on onus is on

the travelers and onus is on the airline. as an american citizen of course i can return home, we should be clear that british citizens, european citizens of course this executive order only applies to people who can traveling and brits and europeans are not allowed in the u.s. right now but as an american if i go get a pcr test, have a negative pcr test, go to heathrow i have to show the airline either electronically or on paper my negative test and the airline verifies it before letting me on board. on the u.s. side he have to self-isolate or quarantine for that cdc recommended ten days. hallie, it's basically exactly how it works over here in the uk. so anyone coming into the uk from anywhere in the world has to, again, if you are initial a negative pcr covid test 72 hours before arrival and on arrival at the fill out something called the passenger locator form. i put my address, my phone number, email, my boyfriend's phone number, roommate's phone number, all sorts of ways for the government to enforce and follow up. in recent weeks they have been

much more rigorous in enforcing. they will spot check you, text you, call you, show up at your door to make sure that you are complying with the government mandated self-isolation. if you are not there are big time fines. big time fines if you break self-isolation, a 500 pound or almost $700 fine if you can't provide proof of that negative pcr test. hallie? >> molly hunter, priscilla thompson thanks to the both of you for that reporting. back at home we're continuing to monitor that confirmation vote for president biden's pick for the secretary of defense, retired general lloyd austin. you look live at the senate floor and we expect things to be wrapping up shortly. we will keep you posted on any news there. and up next, after donald trump's presidency who is leading the gop right now? stay with us. ho is leading the gop right now? stay with us research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan?

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that the trial in the senate will start on tuesday. majority whip dick durbin telling us a couple minutes ago the exact start date for the trial is still tbd. despite democrats now in the driver's seat here in washington as you know there's still a lot of republicans here in the capitol as that has been made clear over these last few days. yes, they are the minority party but at this point just barely. there doesn't appear to be one singular leader, one booming voice of the party all together making the rudder of the gop mia. there are a slue of who's who is looking to be the party's standard bearer. mike pompeo using one of his first tweets as stormer secretary of state to note how many days are left before the 2024 vote. you have josh hawley, nikki haley, mike pence potentially set to fight for the right to succeed donald trump that is assuming the former president doesn't decide he wants his old job back. whoever becomes the next face of the gop you have to imagine that the former president probably will be involved.

recent polls show he is very popular inside his party, that's very different from his standing with americans overall. very low. before all that there's an immediate need potentially for leadership in a divided d.c. while the party might be hungry for a leader the big question now what is the current working with or not president biden over the next two years? to talk about this, i want to bring in somebody who knows republican politics very well, michael steele. good morning to you. >> good to be with you. >> before we dive into all of the where the republican party goes next piece of it, give me your reaction to this impeachment trial news that we have heard break on our show this morning here, discussions, negotiations happening inside democratic leadership about when that could start. mitch mcconnell saying, delay it. how do you see this playing out? >> i think they need to delay this. we are learning more every day from law enforcement, from the investigations that are going on. was there coordination? how coordinated was it? who was involved? i don't think we have the facts right now to have a fair trial

and arrive at a correct decision. we have higher priorities. getting the president's nominations cleared and dealing with the covid crisis. we need a covid bill and the cabinet filled out before we turn to this trial and when we know more. >> talk about now, the leadership of the gop. we saw one person who is a leader in the party in the senate, minority leader now mitch mcconnell. you look ahead, longer term in the party, nikki haley, tom cotton, josh hawley, for example, who is potentially under an ethics investigation or the desire for that, mike pence, obviously, former president trump still a voice in the mix. what do you look for from these potential candidates? it's too early to talk about that. but from the people who want to be voices from the party. how do you see the next couple of years play out? >> after the party loses the presidency, we will see new voices rise. the big question is donald trump. i think a lot of establishment

republicans blame him for losing the georgia senate races and the majority in the senate as a result. they blame him for inciting the assault on the cathedral of our democracy. they are ready to turn the page. he remains enormously popular with the base of the party. i think back on 2008, we had a similar situation with sarah palin who the establishment never felt was qualified for the position of vice president, let alone president. but remained popular at the grass-roots of the party. we will see going forward as the president grapples with financial and probably legal challenges, whether that appeal diminishes to the base and whether new leaders rise as they did in the past. >> you talked about some of the numbers. his popularity in the party. he had an 88% approval rating from republicans. single digits among others. perhaps unsurprisingly, 7% with democrats. look at this reporting from "the wall street journal" that perhaps he may break away and

start his own party. discussion of this patriot party. third parties have really not been a huge force in politics in modern history on the presidential level. what happens if the gop splinters? do you think that's realistic? >> i do think it's realistic. it depends on the president and what he views his personal and financial calculation. there's a part of me that would like to see him go, would like to see us able to rebuild the republican party free of some of the stains of trumpism and certainly free of the awful events of january 6, 2021. while it would immediately seem as though it would be harder for republicans to win in the future if the president creates this splinter party, i wouldn't necessarily see it as a bad thing for the gop itself. >> michael steele, live talking us through that, thank you very much. i appreciate it. live to the senate floor where the confirmation vote is wrapping up on president biden's nominee for defense secretary,

retired general lloyd austin. if he is confirmed, he would be the first black american to lead the pentagon. i want to bring in leigh ann caldwell joining us from the hill. i have been around this enough and know enough capitol reporters to know we don't call anything until it's gavelled. it has not been gavelled to my understanding. nothing final on this vote. obviously, significant. so far, we have seen a lot of yes votes for general austin. >> reporter: that's right. we don't call anything. we can look at some things to indicate that he is very likely going to pass. last night, the senate voted to give general austin a waiver, that is an exception because he has not been retired from the military for in total of seven years, which is what the defense secretary is supposed to be. there's a lot of rumbling about the fact that another waiver was going to be needed. of course, there was one needed for general mattis under the trump administration. that vote passed with nearly 70

senators supporting that waiver. that was a huge indication that there is going to be some widespread support for general austin today. the only two no votes that we know about at this point are from republican senators josh hawley and mike lee. mike lee, i just texted to ask why he voted no. i'm assuming it's for constitutional reasons and the waiver. josh hawley is being blamed for his role in the insurrection on january 6th. he is trying to carve out his own lane up here in the senate as someone who votes and opposed many things in this biden administration. >> i want to ask about this investigation being done by capitol please in andy harris and whether he tried to bring a gun on the house floor. what's going on with that? >> reporter: yeah.

nancy pelosi put metal detectors up around the entrances going into the house floor. to remind you that members of congress can vote -- or can bring guns in the capitol complex but not on the house floor. andy harris was walking through the metal detectors. he went off. our colleague garrett haake saw him walk back with another member of congress, hand him something and proceed to go on the house floor. seems like andy harris did not deny it was a gun, saying -- his spokesperson said he does carry one with him. he has not tried to bring it on the house floor. capitol police have opened an investigation. this is why democrats put up the metal detectors, something unprecedented, hallie. >> lots of action. you can find us on twitter.

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a good friday morning to you. craig melvin here. although you would not know it's friday from the action in our nation's capitol. a number of developments. chuck schumer just announced last hour the article of impeachment against former president trump will be heading to the senate. >> i have spoken to speaker pelosi who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the senate on monday. >> right now, in the senate, the pieces of president biden's cabinet are falling into place. the senate voting on whether to confirm general lloyd austin as our new defense secretary. in the last hour, janet